After a controversial contract was paid to a CBC pundit earlier this year, the Trudeau Liberals continue to blow money on media training.

New order paper documents show that Liberal cabinet minister Omar Alghabra, the minister of transport, spent $3,390 to receive training from Ferrabee International Inc. (A non-distributing corporation company). Alghabra has served as a member of Parliament first from 2006-2008, and from 2015-present.

Previously, Amanda Alvaro, a liberal panellist on CBC’s Power and Politics, and owner of a communications company called Pomp and Circumstance, came under fire for an undisclosed conflict of interest.

During the pandemic, Alvaro's business received a payment of $16,950 from Mary Ng, the international trade minister, and Eleanore Catenaro, Ng's director of communications, as can be seen in the attached documents below.

As it turns out, this payment was not disclosed by Power and Politics which prompted complaints from the public to CBC's ombudsman. One such complaint read:

Today we learned that Amanda Alvaro has also been directly paid by the Liberal Government (at least $41,000). Her failure to disclose is a glaring breach of ethics and I believed that she should no longer be allowed the privilege of participating in a nation-wide broadcast, especially on the serious issues relating to the WE Charity scandal.

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, “Blacklock’s last May 12 disclosed another CBC pundit on legal affairs, professor Carissima Mathen of the University of Ottawa, was a $24,860 consultant to the Privy Council Office on court appointments. CBC never disclosed Mathen’s contract.”

The Canadian Association of Broadcasters code of ethics says, “It is recognized the full, fair and proper presentation of news, opinion, comment and editorial is the prime and fundamental responsibility of each broadcaster.”

CBC Ombudsman Jack Nagler commented on Alvaro's case:

So given that Amanda Alvaro was not identified as a Liberal, I understand why you might be concerned that she apparently had done paid work for a cabinet minister and a government department. My conclusion, though, is that this was not a failure of ethics on the part of CBC. It was a failure of its obligation to communicate clearly with its audience.

The CBC's Journalistic Standards And Practices guidelines stress that “It is important to mention any association, affiliation or specific interest a guest or commentator may have so that the public can fully understand that person’s perspective.

READ THE DOCUMENTS: